mitt romney said last night he truly wished obama would have succeeded. i liked the sound of that, but how did that assertion square with romney's own personal decision to run against and plan to defeat president obama long before the president, this president, even took the oath of office. that's "hardball" for now. thanks for being with us. the "the ed show" with ed schultz starts right now. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show" live from indianapolis. 67 days until the 2012 election and the fact free republican convention is all history now. and after three days of nonstop lies, tonight, i'm going to set the record straight. what is the truth? this is "the ed show." let's get to work. unlike president obama, i will not raise taxes on the middle class of america. i have a plan to create 12 million new jobs. i will begin my presidency with a jobs tour. president obama began his presidency with an apology tour.

>> the truth takes a beating in tampa. as the republican convention ends with another flurry of lies. will the romney campaign's strategic dishonesty work? richard wolffe and van jones have the convention fallout. >> josie whales rides again. >> this isn't necessary. you can just ride on. >> even the president is mocking the clint eastwood disaster. >> it's my turn. >> tonight, how the romney camp made the decision to allow the fiasco and how republicans are trying to bail him out. >> eastwood succeeding in getting under obama's skin. sglin victory for voters in ohio. the republican suppression effort is overruled by a federal judge. set your dvrs because state senator nina turner is here to respond. >> truth of the matter is that it's republicans who are suppressing the vote. good to have you with us

tonight folks, thanks for watching. people are talking about the winners and the losers at the republican convention that wrapped up in tampa. who came out on top? who misses the mark? the biggest loser by far as i see it, was the truth. the truth took a real beating in tampa, florida. the overriding theme of the republican national convention was dishonesty. and it was embraced by republicans from all wings of the party, up and down the ticket. this was a convention where the theme of an entire day's worth of programming was a manipulated quote from president obama. >> the president said if you've got a business, you didn't build that. >> if you've got a business, you didn't build that. well, you know what we do with him, don't you? we would throw him out. >> he'll tell you if you got a business, you didn't build that. somebody else made that happen. >> we applaud your success.

you did make that happen. you did build that in america. >> imagine if the democrats spent an entire day of their convention based on mitt romney's out of context remark about being able to fire people. that was one of mitt's dandies, wasn't it? republicans spent a day saying that president obama attacked small business. now, of course, the president never said such a thing. the president was talking about the american system. which was built by all of us. not just one person. this distortion of the truth only scratched the surface. the republicans were not interested in having any honest debate about the issues this week. they did not want to talk about president obama's actual role in the economy. by every measurement, economic growth is better today than it was when president obama took office. the stimulus created 3.3 million jobs. that's a fact. and the president has not raised taxes on small businesses. that's another fact. and these are facts, but facts,

you know, they were not welcome at the republican national convention. >> they say oh, it's not his fault. well, we have news for the media. we knee that things were bad, but that's no excuse for making things worse. >> we're going broke. >> where's the president's economic plan? blaming others does not qualify as a plan. >> president obama has added more debt than any other president before him. and more than all of the troubled governments of europe combined. >> an $800 billion stimulus that created more debt than jobs? >> his plan to raise taxes on small business won't add jobs. it would eliminate them. >> republicans also unveiled a debt clock, but failed to mention most of the debt comes from unpaid wars and tax cuts for the rich. both coming from the previous administration. you can't get away prfrom it, b

the symbolism is put it clock up and say, hey, it's obama's fault. perhaps the republicans would find it in themselves to have an honest discussion about president obama's foreign policy and national security record. this is the president who ordered the killing of osama bin laden. found him, number one. found him, and then ordered the killing. he helped dispose gadhafi in libya and brought an end to the war in iraq which was a campaign promise. if you're looking for honesty about these issues, folks, you were simply at the wrong convention. >> we can't afford to cost our friends and allies from latin america to europe to asia to the middle east and especially in israel, a nation under existential threat, to doubt america's leadership. >> we cannot be reluctant to lead, and you cannot lead from behind. >> his trillion dollar cuts to our military will eliminate hundreds of thousands of jobs

and also put our security at greater risk. >> last friday, mitt romney brought up the president of the united states, his birth certificate. they can't get away from that, but wait a minute, it was just a joke. but the day after the republican convention, speakers lined up to question president obama's americanness. is he really an american? president obama has been president of the united states for nearly four years and republicans are still questioning his values as an american citizen. it's the twisted version of the truth and it was embraced by everybody in the room. >> barack obama has a problem with the american dream. >> obama is stifling the american dream, primarily because it isn't his dream. >> what this administration has in mind for america isn't a renewal. it's a great leveling out. >> barack obama seems intent on

enrolling more people on food stamps. >> president obama began his presidency with an apology tour. >> i know you're about ready to throw up, but please bear with me. it wouldn't be the republican national convention without more dishonesty about welfare and medicare. the republican lie about the work requirement and welfare has been debunked time and time again by the mainstream media and they're correct. it's a flat out lie. saying that the president raided medicare to pay for obama care is also dishonest. now, the government got rid of wasteful overpayments from medicare and the savings are going right back to consumers. i do believe people got checks in august. there is no debate about these falsehoods, but republicans keep repeating them anyway. they don't care. they just keep doing that. >> that's why work was the centerpiece of the bipartisan welfare reform law. >> this guts the welfare work requirement in the dead of night and won't tell the truth about

it. >> obama's waiving of the work requirements in welfare reform is just one example of his direct repudiation of president reagan's values. >> $716 billion funneled out of medicare by president obama. >> his $716 billion cut to medicare to finance obama care will both hurt today's seniors and depress innovation and jobs in medicine. >> did i hear newt gingrich say reagan? let's talk about that for a moment. actually, it's really sad. when ronald reagan was pushing back against medicare, he didn't lie about it. he had a philosophy. he believed socialized medicine would be a mistake for the country and he said so in a political recording. >> now, the american people, if you put it to them about socialized medicine and gave them a chance to choose, would unhesitatingly vote against it. >> well, turned out that ronny was wrong on that, but reagan, he didn't lie to make his point.

i wonder what ronald reagan would have thought of the dishonesty on display in this name over the past three days. if you want to know how far the republicans are willing to go when it comes to a lie, you don't have to look further than this one, jeb bush. i understand a brother's love for a brother. i got all that. and i understand family reputation. but here's what the former florida governor said about the presidency of his brother, george w. bush. >> he is a man of integrity, courage, and honor. and during incredibly challenging times, he kept us safe. >> well, wait a minute. george w. bush kept us safe, question mark, except for one day. september 11th, when 3,000 americans were killed on u.s. soil. if the guy had just paid attention to his august 6th presidential daily briefing in 20 2001, it might have been a little different. maybe richard clark would have

something oo say about that. republican s spent the last thre days operating in an alternate universe with up was down, down was up. look, listen to senate republican leader mitch mcconnell blast president obama's handling of the economic recovery. here it is. >> for four long years, barack obama's been running from the nation's problems. he hasn't been working to earn re-election. he's been working to earn a spot on the pga tour. >> mcconnell leaves out one very important part. republicans like mcconnell, they are the very people who have prevented president obama from advancing his jobs bill and his economic agenda because they just don't want to have him have any success. don't take my word for it. here's mitch mcconnell. hire was the plan. >> our top political priority over the next two years should be to deny president obama a second term. >> that will be in the archives

and will be played over and over again for generations. because our government is broken, it's broken because of republicans and their attitude towards progress in america. they were out to defeat this president at all costs. mitt romney's most profound dishonesty last night was trying to make everybody forget about all of the obstruction and the road blocks from the republicans. maybe he wasn't paying attention to the news. now, according to romney, everyone, i mean, i fell you what, everybody was on the sidelines just rooting for president obama. it's just he couldn't get it done. >> i wish president obama had succeeded because i want america to succeed. >> under his watch, he wanted obama and america to succeed kind of together? romney said it with a smile on his face, and he, of course, got a bunch of cheers in the crowd from it. and it is a total lie. republicans held meetings in 2009 to stage an all out

resistance to president obama and anything he wanted to do. former republican senator george voinovich of ohio said if obama was for it, we had to be against it. pretty much those were the marching orders. no republican was rooting for president obama to succeed, so here we are, a divided country, headed to november. to say otherwise is just the height of dishonesty, which sums up the republican convention. as you have watched this ed show from time to time, you know that public education is near and dear to my heart, my mother having been an english teacher. i couldn't believe the consstant attack from the podium. jeb bush, chris christie from new jersey. all of these governors and past governors, walkier didn't do t but we know what he's done with education in whisk wiv. they got up in and unison blamed the teacher and, oh, by the way, it's the union's fault. what i would like to see is a

real testimony from teachers at the democratic convention about how their cuts in education have effected their districts. we have done that here on "the ed show," brought teachers on who dug into their own pocket to supply their class rooms, but this would be very effective at the democratic convention to bring teachers on and talk ability these cuts to the tune of $800 million, $900 million to a billion in some states by some radical governments who want to blame the union and fire the teachers, teachers who know how to get it done and get results, but of course, we're paying them too much, and they hide behind choice. it isn't about choice. it's about funding. we're not talking about grocery shopping. so you go into the grocery store and you get to pick the best berries you want to eat. in public education, the doors are open, everybody comes in, and you have to deal with the issues. and in lower income areas of america t is an issue, but the

republicans don't care. they just want to cut, and they want to blame the unions, bust the unions and it's the teacher in the classroom who is the problem. this, of course, was another lie that i think the democrats can really debunk next week. when they go to charlotte. get your cell phones out. i want to know what you think. tonight's question, can mitt romney lie his way into the white house? text a for yes, text b for no, to 622639. you can go to our blog and we'll bring you the results later on in the show. coming up, this convention really, what was it? it's really a reflection of the nominee, mitt romney. so we gault a really good look into romney's judgment and his ability to lead, including the clint eastwood fiasco. richard wolffe and van jones join me for that. first, we noticed another thing at this week's republican convention. it seems nearly all of these successful republicans who got up to the podium, you know, they were just granted speaking slots

to talk about, they had one thing in common. they grew up poor, and through no help from society around them at all, they were able to pull themselves up by their boot straps and did it. >> my dad never finished high school. >> dad was a truck driver. >> dad grew up in poverty. >> my dad lost his job. >> working poor parents in a meat packing town. >> as a widow with seven children. >> basement apartment. >> tiny, two-bedroom house. >> pasta and tuna fish. >> working class. >> working class. knl came from nothing. >> got on a bus. >> took three different buses. >> every day to get to work. >> cleaning sheep pens. >> a poor farm boy. >> working on the railroad. >> a welsh coal miner. >> mopping floors, cleaning bar. >> paycheck to paycheck. >> $10 in their pocket. >> making 50 kenlts an hour. >> a teenager with nothing, not a penny.

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coming up, did the ghost of the gop's past and future overshadow mitt romney at the rnc? van jones and richard wolffe weigh in next. the romney campaign runs from clint eastwood's bizarre speech while the right wing tries to rationalize it. and a big victory for voters in the state of ohio as a judge overturned early voting restrictions. nina turner will join me with reaction. she's fired up again. and share you thoughts with us on facebook and twitter using the hash tag ed show. we're coming right back.

welcome back to "the ed show." this was mitt romney's convention, wasn't it? now, in the end, everything about it was a reflection on him. and i think it was a very poor reflection. mitt romney claims to be mr. fix it. he can get it done with the economy. this is a convention in which every bit of the stage craft is under the control of romney and his team. the fact that it went so wrong on so many levels, i think, is a real problem for the candidate. on the first night, a good speech by romney's wife ann. very touching. was stepped on by the governor of new jersey, chris christie of new jersey, who talked so much about himself for the keynote speech, it sounded like he was accepting the nomination himself. now let's go to the second night, featuring the vice presidential candidate, paul ryan, generating basically two storylines. neither one leping the guy at the top of the ticket, romney. congressman ryan flat out lied more than any vice presidential candidate accepting his party's

nomination and his appearance seemed to showcase the bench for 2016 much more than to showcase mitt romney. then came the utter disaster on the final night. you had to love it, didn't you? just as broadcast networks started to cover all of america saw this guy, clint eastwood, we know clint. but then again, we didn't know he was going to shamefully embarrass through an ad-lib on the national stage and do a job on the republicans. republicans missed the opportunity to show a video biography of mitt romney and allowed clint eastwood to suck up all that air time, just like hollywood likes to do. marco rubio's speech for romney had to be cut down at the last minute because clint eastwood wouldn't shut up. romney's actual speech didn't begin until 36 minutes after the hour. one more thing. for a convention so determined to keep president george w. bush

away, there seemed to plenty of reminders, his brother, former governor jeb bush, clearly bitter about president bush getting blamed for the economic meltdown in america. former secretary of state, condi rice. she's pretty bitter about iraq. and then of course, there's senator john mccain, bitter about losing to president obama and advocating a foreign policy so hawkish that we would be in a perpetual state of war, let's see, well, five fronts. not four, but five, i think. let's turn to political analyst, msnbc political analyst richard wolf with us tonight, and van jones, president of rebuild the dream and author of the book by the same name "rebuild the dream." great to have you with us tonight. richard, you first, if the convention waw a reflection of mitt romney, what did it tell us last night? what did we learn? >> well, it tells us they have a strange world view. the romney campaign, romney himself, has run a very tactical affair here, and we do focus on

shows like this on punching, the back and forth, the lies and distortions, but if you listen to thototality, what you heard was an image of america that many people would find unreal. never mind about the lies and the truth of it, for a start, they don't want to talk at all about the crisis that this president inherited. they say, you can't talk about that. it's a bit like saying if you're president bush, you can't talk about 9/11. the crisis was real, he turned around a situation of losing nearly a million jobs a growth to a situation where we're growing, all be it, not enough, but still, it's a turn around. isn't turn around what they want? it was a strange world view they wurp presenting. >> yes. >> on the lie meter alone, van, the convention was truly off the charts, into double figures easily. is there some calculation this will work with the public when there are so many news outlets pushing back on the lies? how is it going to work? >> i think we have to start off,

this is a shameful, shame fful w point for the republican party to fall. think about the john mccain convention where john mccain talked about global warming. came out as a climate champion, a climate hawk, and the only mention of global warming in the midst of this massive drought is a snarky joke from mitt romney which, you know, essentially attacked president obama for having the hubris to want to do something about global warming. and then you look at no responsibility being taken. i have two sons, and when i come home, my house is a disaster. i asked my little boy what happened, he said, it's my brother's fault. no responsibility taken by the republican party for the shape of the country. blame, blame, accuse and lie. i was heartbroken to see this party, the people who john mccain was speaking back to asa barking back at at the end of his campaign when they wurp standing up and saying obama is

a terrorist, et cetera, john mccain four years ago had the judgment to say that's wrong. those people have taken over this party and you have mitt romney now chasing behind people who have fallen to this very, very low place. this is a shameful, shameful display of dishonesty on the part of a leading party. >> richard, go ahead. >> i'm just going to say, you know, i'm still astonished that mitt romney could stand up and say he really wanted to president to succeed and america to succeed. he's now head of a party that contributed all of three votes to the simulous. the economy was falling off a cliff, the stock market was plunging down to half the value it has today. it has doubled in value since the start of this presidency. were they hoping for success? did they do anything to help the country? they voted down the stimulus. you could have all sorts of policy differences, but in a time of crisis, did the

democrats say to bush, you cannot have your war powers? we're not in a crisis, we're not going to come together? they're just asking people to forget how they behaved and to say, you know, you got any problems out there in this economy, you can't hide, you don't have a job, you know whose fault it is? president obama's. it's not what is happening in the world. there are governments, conservatives and liberals around the world who are struggling with the economy. volt e voters know the reality. >> i appreciate you being here. >> clint eastwood upstages mitt romney and now romney's campaign ads are pointing fingers. we'll have all the reaction to last night's bizarre performance. >> then paul ryan's tear rriblee about the automobile industry. we'll get the truth from the workers who say that ryan failed to help them when they needed him the most. we'll go live to janesville, wisconsin. stay with us. i'm breathing better. so now i can be in the scene.

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thanks for watching us tonight. you know, it was supposed to be mitt romney's night, but dirty harry pretty much stole the show. >> mr. president, how do you -- how do you handle -- how do you handle promises that you have made when you were running for election, and how do you handle -- how do you handle it? what do you say to people? do you -- do you just -- i know people are wondering.

you don't. you don't handle it? okay. some people in your own party were disappointed when you didn't close gitmo. i thought, closing gitmo, why close that? we spent so much money on it, but i thought maybe it's an excuse. oh, what do you mean, shut up? >> about that gitmo thing, i think the republicans didn't want to close it, so the president was working with them, if you know what i mean. clint eastwood's bizarre performance involved improv with a chair. he talked down to an invisible obama. 11 minutes later, the social media went crazy, exploded. a new twitter account, invisible obama, popped up with tens of thousands of followers. a reinvented simpsons reference made the rounds on twitter and facebook.

even president obama weighed in, having fun tweeting this picture with the caption, this seat's taken. good one. now the romney campaign is pointing fingers off camera. romney aides told the "new york times" the speech was strange and weird. one discredited it -- described it as theater of the absurd. on camera. one senior romney aide, well, he passed it off as a moment of levity. >> you have to lighten things up. that's all that was. i think it was a good break in the system, in the chain of things to lighten up the mood. >> eastwood's speech was the night's opening act for most viewers watching the republican convention on network television. according to the "new york times," there was no rehearsal for eastwood. who's going to tell clint eastwood you have to practice this? in his buzz feed reports, the idea to bring out an empty chair came from the man himself, clint eastwood, shortly before going

onstage. he said, get me that chair. a prop aide fetched him the chair without asking any questions. you're not going to ask clint eastwood what he's going to do with an empty chair. the aide assumed he was going to sit down on it, maybe because he's 82 years old. despite the behind the scenes blame game going on, the romney campaign insists their candidate enjoyed eastwood's performance. an aide tells the "new york times," mitt romney was laughing backstage. ann romney, who looks uncomfortable throughout the speech, called the routine unique. >> seemed to be surprised by the romney -- by clint eastwood's performance as the camera took a cut-away of you. >> i didn't know it was coming. >> romney strategist stuart stevens told reporters eastwood did not have prepared remarks. listen, the guy went out and did

what actors do. a little improv. if someone wants to say it wasn't clint eastwood's greatest performance, have at it. some people didn't like "dirty harry" some people didn't like "grand taurino." that's okay. he's got some support from apologists at fox news. >> i thought it was, you know, it was clint eastwood. >> he's ran actor. he's going to say things and do things quirky. >> they were like, oh, no he didn't. and he was like, oh, yes i did talk to an empty chair. i didn't think it was bizarre at all. >> but the host of "inside the actor's studio" james lipton called the speech disrespectful to the president. >> he certainly is a friend of mine, he has been on my show, i know him well. and i like him enormously. i find him a very congenial person. he's also a great director, late in his career, became a very great director. that said, last night was not his best performance.

>> but there was one person who thought the speech was a complete success. >> i realize what was going on, i said, this is a great bit. and eastwood was the essence of simplicity. someone's not doing the job, let him go. just simple as could be. real world simple. >> essence of simplicity. perfect for the republican convention. a lot more coming up in the next half hour of "the ed show." stay with us. we're coming right back. >> are you making the case that plant in janesville would have better employment today if they had followed mitt romney's theory of a managed bankruptcy? >> scott walker, paul ryan, and mitt romney are all lying about janesville and the automobile loan. tonight, the best fact checkers available, the workers, are here to respond. karl rove gets caught joking about murdering missouri senate

candidate todd akin. we'll tell you how the akin campaign is responding. and a federal judge sides with the obama campaign over early voting in ohio. state senator nina turner is here with the reaction. [ male announcer ] wouldn't it be cool if we took the nissan altima and reimagined nearly everything in it? gave it greater horsepower and best in class 38 mpg highway... ...advanced headlights... ...and zero gravity seats? yeah, that would be cool. ♪ introducing the completely reimagined nissan altima. it's our most innovative altima ever. nissan. innovation that excites. ♪ r

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that's what makes philadelphia. ♪ so spread a little... [ female announcer ] and that's what makes the moment we enjoy it, a little richer. ♪ real belgian chocolate whipped with philadelphia cream cheese. new indulgence. the moment just got a little sweeter. one of the biggest lies of this entire republican convention was about one of president obama's biggest success stories in the economy. paul ryan claims the president failed to save one particular gm plant in wisconsin. >> candidate obama said i believe if our government is there to support you, this plant will be here for another 100 years. that plant didn't last another year. it is locked up and empty to this day. the recovery that was promised is nowhere in sight. >> all right, hold the phone here. here's the problem, the janesville, wisconsin, general

motors plant closed right before christmas of 2008. general motors laid off workers, shut down the assembly lines and ended production almost a month before president obama took office. so paul ryan is blaming president obama for failing to save a plant that was already closed and on the way out. by the way, the bush administration, the bush administration did not stop the janesville shutdown either. in this story, we need to pay attention to dates. okay. let's go to june 3rd, 2008. white house spokes person dana perino said, it's a sign that detroit continues to adopt and evolve and address the change in consumer tastes and attitudes. and i think that they're adapting well. that was seven months before president obama took the oath of office. the wheels were in motion. the wheels of bankruptcy were already in motion for the entire automobile industry, and there were no takers. general motors had cut 71,000

jobs since 2008. general motors had lost more than $54 billion since 2005. now, on november 18th, just several months after that quote from dana perino, mitt romney wrote infamously in the detroit free press, let detroit go bankrupt. in other words, let them die. the engine, one of the biggest engines of the united states economy was told, you're on your own. get out of here. the republicans still can't decide what they want to this day. ryan actually wanted the president to micromanage a plant that closed before he took office. at the same time, romney and other republicans wanted to liquidate the entire industry. >> it could have gone back more effectively and sooner had they taken the advice of mitt romney earlier on. >> republicans made a serious mistake. hoping to gain points by trashing the automobile industry loan floated by the government. a nonpartisan industry watch dog

put out these figures over the last year. look at the job growth from july of 2009 to the end of 2010. automakers added jobs despite the recession, and according to the "new york times," 1.5 million people who were working as a direct result of the automobile loan. in fact, general motors announced now it's investing $220 million to expand in lordstown, ohio. today, vice president joe biden told those workers the loan has been an investment in america. >> what they didn't tell you, it's not the bain way. not in mexico. not in china. not in vietnam, but in lordstown, detroit, toledo, cleveland, made in america. made in america. >> mitt romney and paul ryan did not mention the automobile loan today. they left that for the convention, but the democrats say its success is going to be

playing a big role in the convention next week. it's the blame game that's going on. joining us from the ual local noint haul are two men who worked at the janesville, wisconsin plant. good to have you with us. both are with the region 4 united autoworkers. brad, you first, was paul ryan lying when he blamed president obama for your plant's closure? >> absolutely. absolutely. president obama, then senator obama had nothing to do with the decision to close our factory. that was an outright lie. >> did paul ryan fail to help you at all, ron? what about that? >> yeah, let me correct you, first, ed. i really didn't work at the plant, but i am the director of the region in which the plant is located. so i just want to correct that a little bit, but what i will tell you is where we really believe that paul ryan lied and where he

failed at is his inconsistencies. early on, if you look, he voted for stimulus package in early 2000s. and at that time, that was under george bush, which again, was a party line vote. if you look later on in 2008 like you said earlier, it's really about the timeline and how things happen. when this plant closed in 2008, george bush was still in office, and their party line politics were in effect at that time. when barack obama was elected, and in 2009, the plant had already closed. but what's really important here is once the plant had closed, where we needed mr. ryan to step up was simply when people needed ta grants to retool, re-educate themselves, to get back into other jobs, he failed to do that. he did not want to reach out and do those grants. as far as where he's inconsistent on the unemployment, again, early on in

2000, he was all for extending unemployment, but in 2009 when these workers here really needed that, when their plant was closed, he again failed to do that. that's the inconsistencies. >> all right, brad, i want to ask you, are you under the impression, and do you think that president obama left the impression that if he were elected president, that janesville plant was going to remain open? >> absolutely not. i was in that meeting when president obama spoke inside of our plant. there was never a promise made by then senator obama to keep our plant open. absolutely not. that was completely false. you know, again, i agree with ron. >> go ahead, ron. >> you know, i want to -- >> yeah, i didn't hear the question, ed. but i agree, we're -- congressman ryan really failed

us when these employees needed it the most. and to pull a stunt that he did at the republican national convention and use this, the closing of this plant and disgrace the plight of these workers when even today, four years after the closing of the plant, we still have families that are separated. we have moms and dads that drive four, five states away to come home on the weekends to see their families. and to use that and to turn this plant closing into a political football is shameful, and he ought to be ashamed of himself. we all ought to be ashamed of him. >> all right, brad and ron, i have to ask you, all the people behind you there tonight, are they all obama supporters? do you think they are still obama supporters despite the fact that the plant was shut down? >> absolutely. this entire room is full of obama supporters. when our congressman made the remark that the auto loans,

nobody in wisconsin benefitted from those auto loans. it's absolutely false. i have a lot of retirees sitting behind me that still collect a pension they have earned over the years because of the auto loans. >> brad and rob, i appreciate your time tonight on "the ed show." we thought there's been so much talk about fact checkers in the media. we thought the best fact checkers would be the people who actually were given notice that they were losing their jobs and going to janesville was the best thing to do. gentlemen, thanks for joining us tonight. coming up, ohio state senator nina turner reacts to the big victory for voters in hir state. stay tuned. we're right back. [ female announcer ] the power of green coffee extract is now in our new starbucks refreshers™ -- a breakthrough in natural energy. made with real fruit,

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"the ed show" survey tonight, i asked, can mitt romney lie his way into the

white house? 30% of you say yes. 70% of you say no. coming up, there was a huge victory in the fight against voter suppression today. state senator nina turner of ohio joins me. you don't want to miss this. good news. questions? anyone have occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas, bloating? yeah. one phillips' colon health probiotic cap each day helps defend against these digestive issues with three strains of good bacteria. approved! [ phillips' lady ] live the regular life. phillips'.

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do you test with this? freestyle lite test strips? i don't see... beep! wow! that didn't take much blood. yeah, and the unique zipwik tab targets the blood and pulls it in. so easy. yep. freestyle lite needs just a third the blood of onetouch ultra. really? so testing is one less thing i have to worry about today. great. call or click today and get strips and a meter free. test easy. the calcium they take because they don't take it with food. switch to citracal maximum plus d. it's the only calcium supplement that can be taken with or without food. that's why my doctor recommends citracal maximum. it's all about absorption. and to the big finish tonight. it's a big story, biggest story this election season. one thing republicans didn't talk about were the gop voter suppression efforts that were

struck down, struck down in the courts just this week. on tuesday, a three-judge panel unanimously struck down a redistricting plan in texas. on wednesday, a federal judge said he would permanently remove florida's restrictions on third-party voter registration groups. that's good news again. and today, yesterday, excuse me, on thursday, a three-judge panel uninanimously struck down a texas voter id law. and today, the most crucial electoral state in the country, a ohio federal judge sided with the obama campaign and ordered the state to restore three days of early voting for all voters before election day. when ohio allowed early voting in 2008, it boosted turnout and helped president obama win election. so republicans, what did they do? they changed the law so many the military and those overseas could vote early. when the obama campaign sues to

restore voting rights for everyone, mitt romney pretended the president was attacking the military. >> any effort to impede the right of our military members overseas or here domestically in voting, would be an extraordinary violation of the trust that we should have for those who served so svaliantly. >> flat out nasty spin or he doesn't know the issue? mitt romney knows he needs ohio if he wants to become the next president of the united states. luckily, the judge didn't buy the bogus argument, everyone in the state now has equal access to the polls the way it's supposed to be in america. this decision is a huge victory for democracy and the obama administration because the man who wins ohio is probably going to be the next president of the united states. but they may have tricks still up their sleeve. for more on that, let's go to ohio state senator nina turner. senator, great to have you with us tonight. first of all, put into context for us just how big a ruling this is in favor of democracy?

>> it's extraordinary, ed. the u.s. district judge did rule, as you have so eloquently illustrated for your viewers, that it is unconstitutional, the statute that was set up by the ohio general assembly is unconstitutional and all voters will have equal access to the ballot the last three days before election day. this is extraordinary for democracy in ohio. and also on monday, ed, lot us not forget, another u.s. district judge ruled that the state cannot toss out ballots that are cast based on poll worker error, another victory. we had a victory on monday in the state and a victory today in the state for democracy and for the voters of ohio. >> attorney general mike dewine who is a former senator for the republicans said he was going to appeal the decision. he's continuing to use the military privileges as the excuse for restricting other voter rights. how do democrats fight back on

this one, senator? >> it baffles my mind that the ag would say he's planning to appeal this. if he appeals this, make no mistake, it will not just hurt civilian voters, but it will hurt the very military voters that he is claiming to defend. it makes no sense to try to take away access to the ballot for any voters in ohio, be they military or civilian, so it's shameful that he would even say that he's going to appeal it. now, the secretary of state is saying he's reviewing it, but the ag within an hour of the judge's decision has declared he's going to appeal it, and it would be wrong, wrong -- it would be absolutely wrong to do that. >> what is the next trick to republicans are going to play before ewlekz day to suppress the vote in ohio? what do you think they have in store now? >> well, you know, ed, they have already caused a lot of confusion in the state of ohio. god only knows what other tricks they may have up their sleeves,

but we want the voters to remain vigilant, understand the rules of engagement and make sure they vote. we're not going to be turned around, we're not going to let the republicans stop us from doing what we know is right. the right thing is to make sure that voters have access to the ballot. if they do try to appeal this, ed, that would be absolutely wrong. but regardless of what they decide they're going to do, we're going to continue to make sure that the voters in the state are educated, that they know their rights, and that they get out to vote. we will not be turned around. >> do you think president obama is in good shape in ohio? >> i think he is, ed. but we're going to make sure that he is because we're going to make sure that people get out to vote. we're not going to go on a wing and prayer. we're going to go on some sweat equity and make sure that our president makes history gin and the state of ohio is going to do its part to make sure. as long as the republicans take away their dirty tricks department, we'll insure that the voters get out there and vote for our president. >>